Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1887-03-11
ANNEXED AT LAST!!

| CouHIlcS VI luauO 10 washington terrl-
tory has at length passed the senate
and has by this time no doubt received
the presidents signature. The desire
of the people is at length realised and
we are within the jurisdiction and under
the laws of Washington territory 1t
is idle now to go over the points involved
in the annexation controversy, or the
part taken therein by the editor of this
journal in combating the reckless asser-
tions of the demagogs who led the peo-
pie astray by glittering generalities OF
the benefits annexation would confer
upon them. 1t is in no spirit of petu-
lance arising from the smart of the sting
of defeat, but rather in the quiet and
philosophical deliberations of the sane
tum that we arrive at the conclusion
that the people will derive NO benefit
whatsoever by their transfer from one
territory to another. AS matter of fact
there is nothing to be said for annexa-
tion and not much against it. The evils
which affect this section are totally in
dependent of our political affiliations,
and they may, with more Justice, be
attributed to our own isolation from the
world and legacy which has descended
to us as the offspring of played-out mi
ming country. A hoopless cask cannot be
renovated by the closing of an old bung
hole nor by the introduction of a new
one. The progress and prosperity of
any people in these United States are
wholly dependent upon the industry,
sagacity and enterprise of the people
themselves. and their material welfare
can only be affected incidentally by the
code of laws under which they NAV
happen to reside. Hard times will affiict
this community with just as potent
force as ever as long as our people con.
tinue on in their happy-go-lucky, hand
to-mouth, shiftless style of farming and
doing business. We boast OF our fertile
lands and import our flour and seed
wheat. We squat on the fences splitting
tobacco juice at the butterflies In sum-
mer time and brag of how many tons of
timothy hay We can raise to the acre and
permit our cattle to starve to death by
the hundreds for lack of feed. With
thousands of cows on the range there
isn't an ounce of home made butter in
the county. The man who farmed five
hundred or one hundred acres last year
is now buying back at big advance
the very wheat he sold last fall. And
the antithesis might be continued down
through long catalog of the necessares
of life. Such system would impover-
ism any country. and until the system
is changed we shall remain as poverty
stricken in Washington as we ever were
in Idaho, and those who have led you
to believe otherwise are false prophets
in whom there is no truth.
Our opposition to annexation was
mainly inspired by the fact that the
bill as it went to the senate will bank
rupt Idaho county unless the boundaries
are amended. The bill, as published
elsewhere, deprives us of a large reve-
nue. producing territory south of Salmon
river. In other words we lose one-sixth
of our total county revenue. Not only
that, but we are left to assume every
dollar of the entire county debt, at this
date about $4,000. Not only that, but
the bill saddles the counties annexed
with their proportion of the debt of
Idaho territory, which Washington ter
ritory should by right have assumed.
The basis of apportionment of the ter
ritorial debt is the assessed valuation of
the counties. The debt on Oct. l, 1886,
was as follows:
Bonds bearing 10 per cent. interest $40, 7l5 0G
| -. 100000 0O